An unidentified hawk poet/musician
serenades the crowd at a Poets For War rally in San Francisco last
weekend.

A group of fringe poets has joined together to announce their support
for military action against Iraq.

Several chapters of the fledgling International Poets for War Collective
held pro-war poetry readings over the weekend in various cities across
the continent to express their sincere desire for a United States-led
military invations of Saddam Hussein's Iraq and to counter the anti-war
stance of more mainstream poetic organizations, such as Poets Against
the War, and Poets REALLY Against the War.

"Many of the organizations representing poets that you have seen
on your television in recent weeks do not reflect the views of our collective,"
said Poets for War President Arn Fledgecliffe, a professional poet/yoga
instructor from Churchill, Manitoba. "We are tired of poets speaking
out as if all of us were one monolithic whole. There are a diversity of
views in the world of poetry."

Fledgecliffe said that there are a surprising number of American and
Canadian poets ("upwards of 0.2 per cent") who actually support
U.S. military action against Iraq.

"I know of several neo-conservative war hawk poets who see the enlightenment
that military conquest, law and order and the total elimination of the
capital gains tax can bring to one's muse."

The hawk poets have something very important to say, according to Dr.
Paula Quarantine, professor of fiscal poetry and literature at Simon Fraser
University. "I'm not really sure what that is, but I'll let you know
as soon as I figure it out," said Dr. Quarantine.

When informed of the Poets for War rallies held around the continent
last night at his daily press briefing, the normally gruff U.S. Defence
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld gave the group an enthusiastic thumbs up: "Now
that's what I call art," said Rumsfeld, before adding:

A sampling of some of the poets from the Poets for War Collective,
featuring many of North America's best-known hawk poets:

The wildly experimental free verse hawk poet Ernie Dubuque,
of Quebec City has given corporate poetry seminars to some of Canada's
biggest companies. He produced this poem for PFW's new quarterly
journal, Might Makes Right:

TENNIS LESSONS FOR KIDS WON'T PAY FOR THEMSELVES: (WIFE WANTS
NEW MINK COAT)
Floating, floating, floating interest rates
A moon-kissed night, reading Report on Business
With all I have invested in Lockheed Martin,
The future of my family's nest egg
Demands Action
What

I
S
The problem with Self Interest?

The price of gas? You ask?
Fear not, I say, I have
enough bucks, to fill my Jeep

Cherokee

Poets For War member Bonnie Yakuboskie, of Billings, Montana,
poet laureate of the local Denny's, read several of her poems, including
this simple yet abrasive attack upon France, and its refusal to
side with America over Iraq, at a PFW rally held in Fargo, North
Dakota last night:

VETO THIS:
I laugh at France
A place where their leaders
Wear no pants

Nova Scotia hawk poet Marv Xerxes is perhaps the most authoritative
hawk poet on his entire block. Xerxes, who yells his work at anyone
who walks by his balcony, won a large round of applause at the Halifax
chapter of Poets for War's 'Down with Appeasement' rally last night
with this poem lampooning the Canadian government's perceived foot-dragging
in the matter:

Ragging the Puck:
Damn
Prime Minister Get OFF the Fence
Commit our troops
Support the brave leadership of Blair and Bush,
Doing the right thing, not following, leading!